1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a fixing structure of an opening weather strip for a vehicle. More particularly, it relates to a fixing structure of an opening weather strip for a vehicle, in which an opening weather strip with a uniform cross-section is used at a door, over which a door frame molding with a variable cross-section is installed, to seal a gap between a door frame and a vehicle body.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, regardless of door type, a shiny door frame molding has been increasingly used to create a more luxurious appearance of a vehicle. Conventionally, while the door frame molding was mainly applied to large and luxury vehicles, it has been widely applied even to midsize family vehicles.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams showing variable regions of door frame moldings according to door type.
Vehicle doors are typically divided into a panel door (see FIG. 1A) and a frame door (see FIG. 1B). In the case of the panel door, the width of a door frame molding 1 varies over the entire region of the door. On the other hand, in the case of the frame door, the width of a door frame molding 2 is uniform in a region where the door glass is opened and closed and varies in a region where the door glass is fixedly installed to the door frame.
In the case of a panel door type vehicle, a method for applying a door frame molding with a variable width to the entire region of the door to create a more luxurious appearance of the vehicle has been disclosed. In this case, when the width of the door frame molding manufactured by press varies, the shape of the top of the door is formed by bonding two panels also manufactured by press, and thus it is easy to provide a variable cross-section. Moreover, the width of the opening weather strip is uniformly maintained, and thus it is possible to maintain excellent quality.
Meanwhile, in the case of a frame door type vehicle, the door frame is manufactured by roll-bending, and thus the cross-sectional shape is always uniform, which makes it difficult to vary the width of the door frame molding. Accordingly, the cross-section of the opening weather strip assembled to the door frame should have a variable shape, and the opening weather strip with a variable cross-section can be manufactured only by injection molding.
Especially, in the frame door type vehicle, when the door frame molding with a variable shape is applied to the entire door, the opening weather strip assembled between the door frame and vehicle body should be manufactured by injection molding. As such, if most of the opening weather strip is manufactured by injection molding, the opening weather strip is difficult to manufacture, the failure rate is increased, and the manufacturing cost is significantly increased.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a problem occurring when the width of the door frame molding varies in the conventional frame door-type vehicle.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the frame door type vehicle, the shape of a door frame 6 is uniformly maintained even when the cross-section of a door frame molding 2 varies, and thus the position of a sealing portion 4 of an opening weather strip 3 should vary according to the variable width of the door frame molding 2. However, the opening weather strip has a uniform cross-sectional shape (manufactured by extrusion) to maintain excellent quality, and thus the sealing portion 4 cannot match the vehicle body B. Therefore, a gap between the vehicle body B and the door frame 6 is not sealed, which allows dust and rain drops to get into the inside of the vehicle.
Furthermore, when the opening weather strip 3 is formed with a variable shape corresponding to the variable cross-section of the door frame molding 2 such that the sealing portion 4 of the opening weather strip 3 matches the vehicle body B, it is necessary to manufacture the opening weather strip 3 by injection molding, which reduces the quality of the opening weather strip, compared to the products manufactured by extrusion.
As such, in the case of the frame door, it is difficult to apply the door frame molding with a variable cross-section to the entire frame door.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.